Henson, Matthew A. A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. Frontispiece and illustrations from photographs. 12mo, blue cloth lettered in white with photographic inset on the upper cover; extremities worn; white

Henson, Matthew A. A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. Frontispiece and illustrations from photographs. 12mo, blue cloth lettered in white with photographic inset on the upper cover; extremities worn; white lettering rubbed off on spine; early ownership signature on front pastedown. New York, 1912 E250-350 First Edition. After a chance meeting with Henson, Robert Peary took him on as a valet, and then brought him on a survey trip to Nicaragua where He found Henson had an extraordinary sense of direction and aptitude for charting. Peary then took him on 7 successive expeditions to the Arctic in search of the Pole. It has long been argued, given Peary's health in the last days before discovery, whether or not Henson was in fact the first man to reach the Pole. Not in Blockson or Hampton collections; Work, page 475